Abstract
The development of cutting-edge techniques to study specific brain regions and neural circuits that regulate sleep–wake brain states and general anesthesia (GA), has increased our understanding of these states that exhibit similar neurophysiologic traits. This review summarizes current knowledge focusing on cell subtypes and neural circuits that control wakefulness, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, non-REM sleep, and GA. We also review novel insights into their interactions and raise unresolved questions and challenges in this field. Comparisons of the overlapping neural substrates of sleep–wake and GA regulation will help us to understand sleep–wake transitions and how anesthetics cause reversible loss of consciousness.
Significance Statement General anesthesia (GA), sharing numerous neurophysiologic traits with the process of natural sleep, is administered to millions of surgical patients annually. In the past decade, studies exploring the neural mechanisms underlying sleep–wake and GA have advanced our understanding of their interactions and how anesthetics cause reversible loss of consciousness. Pharmacotherapies targeting the neural substrates associated with sleep–wake and GA regulations have significance for clinical practice in GA and sleep medicine.
Footnotes
- Received July 7, 2022.
- Accepted November 16, 2022.
This study was partly supported by the STI2030-Major Project [Grant 2021ZD0203400] (to Z.L.H.); the National Key Research and Development Program of China [Grant 2020YFC2005300] (to W.M.Q.); the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grants 82020108014 and 32070984] (to Z.L.H.), [Grants 82071491 and 31871072] (to W.M.Q.), and [Grant 82201417] (to W.W.B.); the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan Laboratory Animal Research Project [Grant 201409001800] (to Z.L.H.); and the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project [Grant 2018SHZDZX01] (to Z.L.H.)，ZJ Lab, and Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Technology.
All authors declare no competing interests.
↵1W.W.B. and S.J. contributed equally to this work.
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- Copyright © 2023 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
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